I bought these shoes in June for a wedding and I’m testing out if I feel comfortable wearing them in the office. I received compliments on them from three different people, which means that people were noticing them which isn’t necessarily ideal. The bride requested her bridesmaids wear silver shoes, if possible, and I decided these pewter ones were close enough to true silver considering that my navy strapless empire waist chiffon dress was floor-length and nobody would see them. (I don’t have pictures from the wedding yet.) Apparently these shoes are only$7 now.

Apparently the “I Work at an Office Look I’m a Financial Services Professional” outfit on Thursday inspired a youthful retreat on Friday, leading to this new t-shirt from Goodwill and my usual casual Friday jeans and sneakers with my hair in a ponytail. No make-up, either, although that’s standard since I stopped wearing my contacts most days. I prefer contacts, though, and to make them happen again I need to do two things: 1) Go to sleep a lot earlier, and 2) go to the eye doctor for more contacts.

I’m just bragging with with the pool background, isn’t it lovely? There’s a waterfall to the right, which now that I think of it will be included the next time. Usually it’s too hot to venture away from the shade for a photo, and this day was the coolest since probably mid-May. Double digit highs! Two days in a row! With gentle cloud cover! It was fabulous!

I had milk instead of coffee in my travel mug, which I used on granola with blueberries at my desk. I’ve quit caffeine, yet again, including decaf coffee — it’s the gateway drug to regular coffee, after all.

I refashioned the skirt into my size, which was really just one seam on the side plus some cutting the excess bulk in the seam allowance. I love that my new interest in minor tailoring has opened up additional opportunities at the Goodwill 50% Off Saturday sale. Skirt a bit too big? No problem, I’ll fix it! I haven’t branched out beyond simple adjustments yet, although I hope to one day make more impressive refashions like those at Sew I Thought… Some of the Wardrobe Refashion participants produce amazing work, too.

This skirt needs a small amount of tailoring before I wear it again. To make it slightly smaller I folded a pleat at the side of the waistband and held it with a safety pin on the inside. It worked, and was extremely classy.

I bought this polka-dot top at the 50% Off Saturday sale at Goodwill without trying it on, and it doesn’t make the cut after all. I kinda like it, and I still don’t feel great in it — I was pulling at it all day because it’s not quite long enough. Maybe if it didn’t have the shirred bottom and were longer and I could tuck it in, I dunno. It was worth $2 for one wearing, though, I’m ok with that.

A coworker just had a baby and I finally finished putting on the binding today — one of these times I’ll deliver the quilt before the baby comes. I’m not sure how much time he’s going to take off work, it might be a couple months before he comes back in and I can give it to him. The binding took 5 episodes of “Mad Men” and one of “Bones”, I think. I was sewing only one needle’s worth of thread at a time, though, so if I worked the whole episode I would have finished sooner.

The back is a soft dinosaur flannel. I quilted straight lines in the seams and double lines perpendicular to the stripes, plus some double lines on the diagonal as well. It’s time to buy myself a walking foot for my sewing machine.

I love these shoes. They’re a pinkish purple color and I planned my whole outfit around getting to wear them again. They’re not comfortable enough for a day of walking around because of the way the ankle straps cut into the heel a little, although they’re great for sitting in a cubicle most of the day and would be ok at a party that involves some standing, some dancing, and some sitting trading witticisms about the latest pop culture phenomenon.

I’ve had these wool trousers for several years now. I love the fit, the drape, the double drawstring, the herringbone texture visible up close. Every summer I find out why I don’t wear them during certain months of the year. Good god these are some hot pants. They’re perfectly comfortable in the office with their woolitude and their slippery lining, and then when I step outside in the 111 degree heat (the double-digit-triple-digits, as I call anything 110+) I want to take them off and never put on pants again.

That’s why this picture is indoors. Once I got home, I wasn’t going back out again. While I think it was just because of trying a different setting on the camera, the slight blur of this picture might actually be due to the heat vapors emanating from my pants.